Background
The University of Minnesota implemented Ex Libris’ unified library resource management system, Alma, in December 2013. Following that, the Alma Leadership Team (a.k.a. Alma Bridge Team) led operations groups and staff in immediate post-implementation work and its relationship with other enterprise level systems. The new Alma Leadership Team (ALT) replaced past iterations of the implementation and interim leadership teams. It provides ongoing leadership for Alma by setting policy, principles and priorities, strategy, and resource allocations across the libraries of the University of Minnesota. This is accomplished by coordinating the work of the established operations groups, communicating with staff, and working directly with the Library Enterprise Systems Governance Committee on those issues that require governance-level consideration for policy, finances/resources, strategy, and alignment.
Purpose
The purpose of the Alma Leadership Team is to provide effective leadership and oversight of the University’s Alma library management system. This charter is meant to document a shared understanding of the guiding principles for Alma and the responsibilities of the Leadership Team and Alma Operations Groups.
Guiding Principles
The following principle statements applied to our implementation and are still relevant to guide our processes and decisions today:
- Reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) of the ILS system and functions. Due to Alma’s software-as-a service model, customization of Alma software and interface is inherently limited to supported local configuration options, API integration, and external integrations. Commitment to streamlining and minimizing local configuration, and to making extensive use of Ex Libris and Alma community contributions will help realize efficient processes.
- Leverage the system to support the libraries’ future directions and foundational operations. Alma interacts with numerous significant initiatives that influence the libraries’ future directions in discovery, resource access, and data management, including interlibrary loan, digitization and linked open data. Support for these initiatives must be integral to planning while balancing with robust support for current operational areas of enduring value.
- Fully engage library staff in development, review, and application of Alma policies and processes, especially through the operations group, forums, and other communication mechanisms, including continued work analysis, data clean-up and developing new ideas for improved functionality.
- Influence the development of future Alma functionality. The Alma Leadership Team will work with institutional members of the Alma community, the Alma Product Working Group, and Ex Libris to shape the Alma software roadmap, its interoperability with other academic and administrative systems, and create collaborative initiatives with users and groups.
Areas of Responsibility
The group shares responsibility and requisite authority for providing vision and strategy for continuing growth in Alma functionality to ensure a reliable, high quality Alma environment with the Governance Group. The Leadership Team will:
- Establish a plan for ongoing work (roadmap) in alignment with relevant operations groups.
- Lead change management for Alma including planning, testing, and executing system changes.
- Identify, review, advise on or develop policies and standards relevant to the Alma system and operations and services (from selection to cataloging and metadata management to circulation) that the system will ultimately support.
- Provide oversight and coordination of Alma operations groups, including priority setting, strategy and vision for groups, and settling issues that can’t be resolved within or between the groups themselves
- Advancing issues and decisions requiring executive-level consideration to the Libraries Enterprise Systems Governance Team.
- Identify additional areas of beneficial interoperability between Alma and external systems to increase efficient operations and coordinate with appropriate operations groups and staff for investigation and potential implementation
- Determine and apply standards in a process to design/investigate, test, and implement appropriate APIs with operations groups.
- Assure broad communication and shared understanding of impacts of decisions on Libraries’ staff and patrons.
- Engage and share with the broader Alma community.
The Alma Leadership Team, which consists of the Alma service owner (DMA director), Operations and Auxiliary Group chairs, and campus representatives, aspires toward improving the functioning of Alma through a balancing of needs and capacity available to address those needs.
The Leadership Team identifies and prioritizes changes/improvement needed to improve the functioning of Alma to help our staff attain operational excellence. Through consensus, the group authorizes the allocation of resources towards the execution of work that is within the management purview of its group members. For identified changes/improvements requiring planning and additional resource allocation beyond the management purview of group members (e.g., requests that would need to draw significantly upon resources of Minitex, Web Development, or other departments), requests are advanced to the relevant director(s) where they will be negotiated for coordinated placement in scheduled work plans.
Current Members
- Kirsten Clark (Chair / Fulfillment Operations Group)
- Julie Rashid (Acquisitions-Financial Operations Group)
- Stacie Traill (Cataloging/Metadata Operations Group)
- Sunshine Carter (Electronic Resources Operations Group)
- Chris Rose (LES)
- Erik Biever (LES)
- Michael Johnson (Analytics Auxiliary Group)
- Sarah Yates (UMTC Law Representative)
- Lisa Wheeler (UMD Representative)
- Angela Vetsch (UMM Representative)
- Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran (UMR Representative)
- Keri Youngstrand (UMC Representative)